Fallen's SCX10 iii Bronco

[Fallen]

Another weekend of tinkering is almost in the books.

I started with trying to get the weight from the electronics centered between the chassis rails. I didn't like how the ESC was on the passenger side, and my drivers side either held a heavier battery, or nothing.

The Canucks at GCM Racing did a 4 video series on the Axial 10.3 Bronco. In video #1 they do a front mounted battery mod. I copied that, but used the tray to mount my ESC.

I had to buy a 6 inch servo wire extension to make the shift servo connection to the ESC. I ran all of my wires under the faux-engine.

Then I moved my power switch to the leading edge of my front fender liner. I used very short screws that don't poke through into the wheel well. I can just barely touch the switch enough to use it with the body attached, but it is still invisible.

Now I run a 2200MAH 3S on the rear tray to shave some weight over my old 5000MAH.

Since I shaved some weight above the axles, I decided to add some more back, and higher up! I ordered the aforementioned 6 inch servo wire extension from RPP, I also bought some sand ladders and a steel, functional Hi-Lift jack.

The sand ladders just stuff right under the spare, between my gas cans. No thought needed.

Mounting the Hi-Lift jack took some thought. I eventually settled on using the shock caps from the SCX10 faux reservoir shocks.

I attached those caps to the locations where the spare tire mounts attach to the cage. I just needed some slightly longer screws and some flat washers. Then I pass a 1.5mm screw through the jack and into those little bosses that the faux reservoirs mount on.

That's it for now. I hope to get this truck out for some driving tomorrow, with two of my sons. I'll probably keep slowly filling the bed space up with more scale items.

I happened to figure something out with making my tire lettering marking last longer. Thick coats of paint get hard and brittle when they dry. The flexing of the sidewall throws the paint off when done in thick coats. One light coat of paint remains flexible. It doesn't look as bright, but it sure does last longer.

 

[twade984]

Looks very good [emoji1360]


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[Fallen]

Thanks man!

I'm out of ideas for next weekend at the moment. A bit of time browsing RPP will probably solve that.

I almost bought some BF Goodrich tires from my LHS yesterday. My love of the Wildpeaks saved me $70 though.

Oh, and the reason it's so easy for me to stuff those ladders under my spare tire is because there's no foam in it.

 

[Fallen]

Some photos from today's drive:

She definitely got scraped up today. Fortunately Krylon Fusion is pretty tough, as my bumpers and sliders got dragged all over rocks today. But the Bronco pulled some pretty gnarly lines. Stuff I didn't see a way over.

The painted plastic still looks pretty good though.

Of course, the most damage came from me being dumb in 2nd gear on flat ground and rolling it over. I guess converting it to a 2 speed didn't turn it into a Porsche.

I definitely find the 2 speed more fun than having the dig. It's fun to throw it into 2nd gear on the flatter stuff and pretend I've got a Baja Bronco.

 

[Fallen]

One more weekend of tinkering is behind me. Who knows how many more await? Probably not too many. I seem to be nearing the end of my plans for future mods. Unless some other parts get released for this thing, I likely won't do too much more with it.

The factory holes in the cage, along with the plastic runners along the bedside caps have me hoping Axial will release a hard cover for the bed.

But onto some recent crawling photos:

You may have noticed a few more items in the bed. Having previously owned a Traxxas UDR brought to mind some of the larger scale items on the bed of that truck.

I ordered a fire extinguisher, oil bottles and spare battery, all originally from the UDR. I painted those up, and in they went. I also put a cooler and shovel back there.

The fire extinguisher comes ready to mount on a roll cage tube. I had to drill a hole in my cage, but that was it. I mounted it in a place where the hole would be barely visible in case I didn't like it.

I also switched back from a 12t pinion to the stock 14t. This was to get some more speed out of 2nd gear.

And since my shocks are now 91 or 92mm shocks, I ordered some medium (red) and soft (white) springs for the 90mm shocks. They fit perfectly, and now I run the medium springs on the rears. I'm still running the stock firm (yellow) springs up front, as most of my weight is still there.

Here's to hoping for some more parts to be released, or at least some more ideas. The only thing I'd like to add now is a scale toolbox for the bed.

 

[JDM74]

It looks great. I’m trying to figure out a canvas bikini top for it to add some more interesting texture. I’m with you though, I would like to run metal bumpers but I’ve only been able to find a rear one that I like.

 

[Fallen]

Yeah, and thanks.

I think the stock bumpers look pretty darn good. The ScalerFab bumpers are pretty expensive, and I don't think they look as good as the stock bumpers.

That said, the ScalerFab ones sure give the truck some better angles.

There's probably some other 10.3 bumpers that can work with this body, I just haven't put time into researching those.

 

[JDM74]

Yeah, and thanks.

I think the stock bumpers look pretty darn good. The ScalerFab bumpers are pretty expensive, and I don't think they look as good as the stock bumpers.

That said, the ScalerFab ones sure give the truck some better angles.

There's probably some other 10.3 bumpers that can work with this body, I just haven't put time into researching those.

This is the rear one I found.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/353784728865?hash=item525f368d21:g:LqkAAOSwMAlhoHm8

It looks like it fits pretty good. I am not a fan of the scalerfab bumpers at all for the Bronco.

 

[Oh How Original]

The gold touches look fantastic, I feel the wheels need to be very dark grey or black now though, maybe I'm weird lol.

 

[Fallen]

You're definitely not wierd.

Just a few days ago I started to consider painting the wheels to match the rest of the "metal" stuff. I wrote that off as me just thinking of more projects for the sake of projects.

But now... I already have the wheels, the paint, and the time... And I like the idea of removing one extra color from the truck. Simpler is more better (usually).

Thanks though. I'll post a bit more soon, as I just finished up a paint project on it last night. Its more blacker than before.

 

[Fallen]

I decided that paint is greater than stickers, so off went the black stickers, and on went the Tamiya PS-5 black. I wanted the top of the fenders that pokes up above the hood to stand out too, so I ended up with more black than the stickers provided.

I didn't like how the stock windshield sticker had that Axial banner on the top. I removed that sticker and painted the windshield black. This makes the windshield wipers, already painted silver, stand out more.

That painting was done on the outside of the body, so hopefully it doesn't all get scratched off.

Following JDM74's lead I painted my interior with flat clear. I had heard Matt from SBG recommend this, but once I saw how good JDM74's interior looked I was in. And since I had the body disassembled for the aforementioned painting, it was the right time to do it. It's pretty easy to apply, as you just spray it on right over the stickers.

My wheels finally got a color change I've been considering for a bit. OHO's recommendation above pushed me over the edge to paint them with the same Metallic Dark Gray as the cage / bumpers / sliders.

And I got a neat little toolbox from RPP. It came with several tools, some of which actually function. They were all loose in the box initially, so I CA glued them in. I didn't want to have to find those tiny little slip joint pliers in the dirt after a roll-over.

And speaking of rolling over, stock gearing (14t) definitely has enough speed on 3S to keep you on your toes. That's running in 2nd gear. Though the difference between 1st and 2nd isn't much, it's enough to make a difference. There were hill climbs I couldn't make in 1st gear, that were easily done in 2nd gear.

Well, keep tinkering toy truck lovers. Next step for me: probably some kind of roof. I keep seeing other guys' Broncos that give me ideas to mimic.

Speaking of scale things, I actually used my Maxtrax twice successfully. Once on a loose hill climb that I buried myself on. And another time as a bridge between the ground and a large rock, that I didn't have enough approach angle to successfully climb up.

Maybe eventually I'll use my Hi-Lift jack as a winch. I keep a chain with hooks stored in the cooler for just such an occasion.

 

[Fallen]

Well, a few more changes made. Nothing too big here, but enough progress for me to be satisfied with.

I added a roof, after seeing some other forum members' Broncos and how good they looked with a roof. Mine is just an old shortcourse body roof that I trimmed to fit and painted black. It's screwed to the factory holes in the cage.

I also played with the lights a bit. I added an LED bar to the front bumper. It's Pro-Line's 2" bar and it fits nicely under the stock push-bar. I think it's subtle enough to say "this old school off-roader has some modern capability." I put 4 small holes in the bumper and mounted it using some brackets that came with the light. The photos make the lights look ice blue, but they don't look that cool in real life.

I dusted the rear light lenses with Tamiya PS-5 black. Another trick I copied from the Canucks as GCM Racing. If I keep stealing Canadian mods, Justin Trudeau is going to try to tyrannize my Bronco.

And lastly, new wheels. I walked into my hobby shop the other day, and saw these SSD Steel 8 Spokes on the shelf. I noticed they were white, black and tan and thought to myself "where have I seen those colors before?" And I had to have them. Fortunately they only cost about $65 for all 4, so not too bad.

Now get back to work, and stop looking at toy trucks!

 

[durok]

Now get back to work, and stop looking at toy trucks!

No, I refuse!

Not with ones as nice as this one to check out!

 

[Fallen]

That is a bit hypocritical of me.

I re-sized the photos, uploaded them to a hosting site and typed that last post, all while at work.

Just don't tell the gov't agency I work for. I'm sure they'd be aghast to learn of dollars being wasted by the government.

And thanks. I'm continually jazzed about how this Bronco looks. Axial set the pins up for me to knock down.

 

[Speedy-Triple]

looking at this tread makes me want this truck so bad... too many projects.

 

[Fallen]

Thanks!

Ironically, that's what led me to getting one. "House" had posted his that he had modded. Plus, a few weeks previous to that I had noticed a few in stock at my hobby shop.

But I didn't have any other projects going at the time. I'm glad I didn't because this one has actually kept me pretty busy (thankfully).

 

[Fallen]

I found and installed a light bar I like, and was already familiar with. It's the Team Associated 6 bucket LED bar, which looks suspiciously like the RPM 6 bucket light bar. RPP had it for about $17, and it came with the LEDs.

Once again, my phone's camera makes the lights look way more blue than they do to the eye.

I mounted it to the windshield, as that's actually what the manufacturer recommends. It would have been easier to go on the roof, as I had to cut that upper bar the windshield attaches to. But I think it looks better on the windshield, as it doesn't stick up so high. It's a tall light bar.

A slight curve of the wires and they drop right under the cage, and go up under the roof panel. Associated wires these with a lot of extra wire. If I didn't have a roof panel I wouldn't be able to hide all of it.

Maybe it's obvious, but yes, I painted the bar tan. It only comes in either chrome or black.

I also changed my spare wheel out. I replaced it with an Axial Walker Evans wheel that I painted tan. I then painted the beadlock ring gloss black and touched the hardware with a chrome paint pen.

That was mostly because I planned to sell the stock slot mags as a set, but I actually think I'll keep them. They're a pretty cool wheelset, and some nice lightweight beadlocks.

I changed the way my Hi-Lift jack mounts. It now attaches using some body clips instead of hardware. That way I can deploy and stow it without tools.

And like the new jack mount, I used some of the brackets that came with the Pro-Line LED bar to make a swing-away shovel mount. That LED kit includes a bunch of brackets that are handy for all sorts of things.

Well, with my Losi LMT on the way, I suspect this Bronco won't see any attention from me for a little while. Which I'm okay with. Installing that upper light bar took several hours. Building, gluing, cutting, rebuilding, routing wires... there was a lot to it. But I think it's worth it, and a worthwhile project to leave off on.

My LMT will need electronics, a body and lots of driving. Plus, my younger sons LOVE monster trucks, so making the LMT cool is something I definitely want to do. They don't get to touch the Bronco, but the LMT is mostly for then to enjoy.

 

[twade984]

I really like seeing how this thing has turned out. Great attention to details [emoji1303]


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[Fallen]

Thanks man! It's been fun to work on.

It's cool to stare at and figure out something to try to change. I've probably spent about $200 in parts on this truck. Most of what I've changed has been aesthetic stuff, mostly with paint.

I'm sure I'll eventually do more to this thing, but I know how I am with new things. The new quickly replaces the old and I become consumed with that.

But I've never been a huge fan of monster trucks, so I'm confident it won't be long before I am enamored by the ol' Bronco again.

 

[twade984]

Thanks man! It's been fun to work on.

It's cool to stare at and figure out something to try to change. I've probably spent about $200 in parts on this truck. Most of what I've changed has been aesthetic stuff, mostly with paint.

I'm sure I'll eventually do more to this thing, but I know how I am with new things. The new quickly replaces the old and I become consumed with that.

But I've never been a huge fan of monster trucks, so I'm confident it won't be long before I am enamored by the ol' Bronco again.

I’m the same way, which keeps it interesting imo.


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